Pickup hit by train in Thailand after driver took GPS advice to use shortcut

BANGKOK (THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A Thai man who was delivering a tree blames a shortcut advised by his GPS device for his pickup becoming stuck at a rail crossing and hit by a passenger train on Saturday (Sept 2) morning.

Pol Captain Sayan Duprawat, deputy inspector of Chumphon's Pathiu police station, said the accident happened at a rail crossing in Moo 10 village in Tambon Chumkho of Pathiu district.

The pickup was hit and pushed by the train along the railway lines for about 200m.

The pickup driver, Winyu Namprapha, 31, of Roi Et, said he was delivering a tree to a customer at Chumphon airport in Pathiu when the accident occurred.

He said he did not know the route, so he used GPS, which directed him to use a shortcut.

The bottom of the pickup became stuck on a concrete barrier at the rail crossing, and he was trying to lift the truck off the rail lines with a jack when he notcied the Bangkok-Yala train approaching very quickly.

He jumped out of the way before his pickup was hit.

"I'm very upset. The GPS directed me and I followed it. I never imagined that this would happen," Winyu said.

The Straits Times

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